Baby chair



Oct. 22, "1946.: I 2,409,622

BABY CHAIR Filed July 17, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1" I INVENTOR. 1

Louis Gottfried i Oct 22, 1946. L. GOITFRIED BABY 0mm Filed July 17,1941

2 Shieets-Sheqt .2

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INVENTOR. Louis Gottfried Patented Oct. 22, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE BABY CHAIR Louis Gottfried, Bronx, N. Y.

Application July 17, 1941, Serial No. 402,741

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-488) This invention relates to improvements in chairsand more particularly to that type of high chairs which is especiallyadapted for use in the care of small children although same is notrestricted to such use.

The main object of this invention is to provide a chair of the abovecharacter, in which means are adapted to substantially eliminate thetipping or turning over of the chair by enlarging the base of the chair,said means, comprising a plurality of devices, which work independentlyof each other, and in which means are provided for securing said meansin the respective extended and withdrawn positions.

A further important object of this invention is to provide a device ofthe above character which might be brought into and out of the operativeposition and is of simple construction, and one which may be readily andcheaply manufactured and placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

The invention will be understood from a consideration of the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, with the understanding however thatthe invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showingof the drawing butmay be changed or modified so long as such changes ormodifications mark no material departure from the salient features ofthe invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the complete chair showing oneconstruction of the new device mounted on the legs of the chair.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of one embodiment of the inventionshowing different means for keeping a, support in the upright or downedposition.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation corresponding to the construction shown inFig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of another embodiment of theinvention showing difierent means for keeping the support in theoperative and inoperative position respectively.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation to the construction shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross section 8--8 of Fig. 4.

The chair comprises the usual upper seat I with the back 2, the footrest 3, the legs land the cross bars 5 5 and 5? connecting the legs 4.

The baby chairs, also called high chairs, have a relatively small basecompared with the height of the chair and therefore there is a bigdanger of tipping or turning over the chair. Although this danger hasbeen known for long time nothing has been done to eliminate the tippingsave the arrangement of the legs of the chair in a little 2 widerdistance, which brought only limited and unsatisfying results.

According to the present invention an arm is pivotally secured to thelegs 4. The arm can be brought into the extended and in the withdrawnposition, respectively. The arms increase the supporting base of thechair when in the extended position and thus the dangerous tipping isquite impossible.

In Figs. 2 and 3 is shown one modification of the invention.

The device shown in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises an arm 6', mounted on abracket 1 to be turned down from the inoperative to the operativeposition. The bracket 1' in this construction comprises a base plate 22having holes Ill and secured to the leg 4 by screws l l. The arm 6' ispivotally mounted on the base plate 22 by a pivot l8. The arm 6 has apart bent up between the ends forming an ear 23.

At a suitable distance from the base plate 22 another base plate 24having holes 25 is secured to the leg 4 by screw II. The base plate 24is equipped with a forwardly extending projection 25. The projection 26has a hole 21 carrying a pivot 28, on which pivot 28 a lever 29 ispivotally mounted. The projection 26 is provided with a bolt 30 arrangedclose to the leg 4 and said bolt 30 carries one end of a spring 3|, theother end of which is secured to a bolt 32 arranged between the ends ofthe lever 29. The distance of the bolt 32 from the bolt 30 varies in thedifferent positions of lever 29, which distance is shortest in the upperand lower positions of lever 29 and is longest in the lateral positionof lever 29. Thus springtl tends to keep lever 29 in the upper or lowerposition, since spring 3| is most expanded in the lateral position oflever 29. So the spring 3| keeps the lever 29 in either one of thepositions. The lower end of the lever 29 has a part 33 being bent overfor about in order to limit its swing down movement by abutment againsta link 34 connecting arm 6 with lever 29. The bolt '32 serves also as apivot for the upper end of the link 34, the lower end of whichispivotally mounted on the ear 23 of the arm 6' by a pivot 35. .In Fig. 2the device is shown in the position enlarging the base of the chair infull lines and in order to swing the arm 6 into inoperative position,which position is shown in dotted lines, the lever 29 is turned up withthe action of the spring 3!, whereby also link 34 and arm 6' are drawnup and the spring 3| retains the lever 29 and in that way also link 34and arm 6 in the upper position.

In Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is shown another modification of the invention.

The device shown in Figs. 4 to 6 comprises again an arm 6'', pivotallymounted as before on a bracket 1" to be turned down from the inoperativeto the operative position. The bracket 1" comprises a base plate 35 withholes 31 for securing it by screws H to the leg 4 of the chair. Close tothe upper end of the base plate 36 and close to the outer end of the arm6" respectively an car 38 and two parallel upwardly projecting cars 39respectively are arranged. A lever 60 is pivotally mounted on the ear 38by a pivot 4|, said lever 49 having an U-cross section (Fig. 6) and alink 42 is pivotally mounted on the ears 39 by a pivot 43. The lever 40and the link 42 are also pivotally connected by a pivot 44 arranged onthe lever 40. The pivot 44 glides in a slot 35 arranged on the upper endof the link 42 and the latter extends into the U-shaped sectioned lever40. The end 46 of the link 42 is narrowed and that end 46 is securedbetween the back of the U-shaped lever 49, which back ends in somedistance from the lower end of the lever 40, and two pointings 41narrowing the two branches of the U-shaped sectioned lever ll] on thispoint only, in the operative position. In this position the lever 66 andthe link 42 are locked against relative turning. In order to reduce theenlarged base of the chair the link 42 is first moved in longitudinaldirection out of the U-shaped sectioned lever 46 so that the end 46clears the U-shaped part in that way removing the end 46 from the narrowpart of the lever Ml whereby the pivot 44 lides in the slot t5 and thenthe lever 40 is turned down around the pivot Al and the link 32 turnedup around the pivot M. In accordance with the movement of the link 42the arm 6" swings up around the pivot l8. So the arm 6" turns from thehorizontal position shown in Fig. 4 in full lines to the uprightposition shown in dotted lines.

Although I have specifically described and illustrated my invention inconnection with a baby chair it is to be understood that the inventionmay be applied to bassinets, or other juvenile furniture where thetendency to tip prevails to eliminate the danger of tipping.

The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the drawingsand set forth in the specification, and in particular the base expandingdevice has been shown supported by the legs of the chair, although thedevice can be supported by any other part of the supporting structure ofthe chairs, as for instance by the cross bars, It will be understoodthat any modifications within the scope of the claimed invention may bemade in the construction without departing from the principle of theinvention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

What I claim is:

1. In a baby chair, an upper seat structure and a lower supportingstructure comprising at least three legs, a plurality of base expandingmeans mounted on said supporting structure, each of said base expandingmeans comprising bracket elements arranged one above the other, each ofsaid upper bracket elements having pivotally secured thereto a lever andeach of said lower bracket elements having pivotally secured thereto anarm, a link connecting each of said levers of' the upper bracketelements with an arm of the corresponding lower bracket elementsintermediate the ends of the lever and the arm, respectively, the saidarms being extendable in a lateral direction outside of the base formedby said supporting structure and withdrawable adjacent to saidsupporting structure, the said lever 4 and the said arm of one baseexpanding means being movable independently from that of the said otherbase expanding means, one of the said bracket elements carrying one endof a spring, the other end of said spring being secured to thecorresponding lever of said bracket element, said spring being mountedon a line to one side of the line between the pivot on the upper bracketand the pivot between the lever and link, to retain the arms in theirexpanded or withdrawn position, respectively, by contraction of saidspring when changing from one expansion to the other.

2. In a baby chair, an upper seat structure and a lower supportingstructure, comprising at least three legs forming a supporting base,base expanding means for said supporting base comprising a plurality ofarms pivoted upon said supporting structure, a plurality of leverspivoted upon said supporting structure, each of said levers positionedabove and cooperating with one of said arms, and a plurality of links,one link pivotally connected to each of said arms and to one of saidcooperating levers, said arms adapted to be shifted independently ofeach other from inoperative to operative position in a lateral directionoutside of said supporting base and again to inoperative position bydrawing up said arms independently adjacent to said supporting structureand means for securing each of said arms in its extended position.

3. In a baby chair, an upper seat structure and a lower supportingstructure, comprising at least three legs forming a supporting base,base expanding means for said supportin base comprising a plurality ofarms pivoted upon said supporting structure, a plurality of leverspivoted upon said supporting structure, each of said levers positionedabove and cooperating with one of said arms, and a plurality of links,one link pivotally connected to each of said arms and to one of saidcooperating levers, said arms adapted to be shifted independently ofeach other from inoperative to operative position in a lateral rdirection outside of said supporting base and again to inoperativeposition by drawing up said arms independently adjacent to saidsupporting structure and means for securing each of said arms in theirrespective extended and drawn-up positions.

4. In a baby chair, an upper seat structure and a lower supportingstructure comprising at least three legs forming a supporting base, aplurality of base expanding means mounted on said supporting structure,each of said base expanding means comprising at least one bracketelement, said bracket element having pivotally secured thereto a leverand a corresponding arm, said lever arranged above said arm, a linkconnecting each of said levers with one of said corresponding arms, thesaid arms being extendable in a lateral direction outside of the baseformed by said supporting structure and withdrawable adjacent to saidsupporting structure, the said lever and the said arm of one baseexpanding means being movable independently from that of the other baseexpanding means; and means for rigid connection of each of said leverswith the corresponding link in the extended position of said armpivotally connected to said corresponding link in order to retain saidarm in its extended position.

LOUIS GOTTFRIED.

